STOCKTON - In a town awash in Mexican restaurants, it's worth keeping track of the places that distinguish themselves by doing it well or doing it differently.

With a wide-ranging and eclectic menu with great-tasting fare, Gaby's Café does both.

A group of three of us made the short hop from downtown Stockton to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for our lunch break. Even though it was tempting to order buttermilk pancakes ($3.59) or French toast ($4.99), we only got one item off the breakfast menu, a traditional Mexican favorite, machaca ($6.99).

But this breakfast-for-lunch order turned out to be a wise decision. The ample portion of machaca was delicious, the eggs mixed with an ample amount of shredded beef, green and red peppers and onions, a little bit spicy but not too much so. They can really spice it up for you though, if you ask. The plate arrived with generous portions of rice and beans, along with flour tortillas that were available with all our orders.

For the rest of our lunch, we passed over the traditional American lunches, like chef's salad ($5.75) or a cheeseburger combo with fries and a drink for $6.75.

The Mexican food just looked too interesting. It didn't hurt that we were munching on a complimentary basket of tortilla chips that came with a deliciously spicy, yet creamy, salsa while we made up our minds. The menu has an array of the more-typical combination menus, but there's also a large seafood selection offering a variety of styles and sauces.

We ordered the Pulpo al la Diabla - octopus in a hot, red sauce - which for $6.99 came with rice, beans, a small salad and tortillas. The octopus was cooked to perfection. Firm, but not chewy. It came swimming in a tomato-based sauce that was much more than just spicy, though it indeed was hot. It had rich, complex seasoning that we sopped up with a flour tortilla at the end of the meal.

And the side dishes were more than an afterthought. The beans were none too greasy and the rice was not dry. Everything was piping hot, except for the simple lettuce-and-tomato salad.

Gaby's menu has about a dozen ways to order a combination plate of shrimp. We picked the Empanizados, or breaded shrimp. The breading was more a tempura coating instead of the traditional breading we expected. A nice surprise, since it was much lighter. It came plenty hot, with very little grease, and quite plentiful. It came with rice, beans and some fries for $9.99.

The fries weren't greasy, either, and tasted as if they were home-cooked from potatoes cut up in the back. We also got a plate full of fries ($3) to share.

Opened in 2010, Gaby's Café is connected to its neighbor, Harry's Lounge, by a door inside the restaurant for those who want to nip over for a cocktail.

The two places are connected, but couldn't look more different in appearance. Where the cocktail lounge is dimly lit, Gaby's is brightly lit by windows that wind around the corner from MLK to Sutter Street. Light-wood paneling covers the inside walls, which are adorned with Western art, like a wood-carved wagon wheel, white cowboy hats and pictures of horses.

For seating, there are large tables and spacious booths as well as stools at a high counter island in the center of the restaurant. It was far from crowded at lunchtime, and the service was prompt. We ate well and went back to work after spending $35 for the three of us, before tip.

The price was right, the food was good, and when we have a hankering for Mexican food again, Gaby's Café stands out in a crowd.